ag-gag

Animal activists from Los Angles-based Mercy for Animals are taking credit this week for the conviction of Danny Miranda on three counts of misdemeanor animal cruelty, but it might be awhile before they or others return to North Carolina to mount another undercover investigation. That’s because on Jan. 1, a new North Carolina law went… Continue Reading

Constitutional rights not used or claimed might not survive from one generation to the next. It’s not good enough to say that because of New York Times Co. v. United States (1971), no prior restraint — meaning no government-imposed censorship or punishment — may exist against anyone’s rights to speak or publish under the First Amendment…. Continue Reading

Idaho’s new “ag-gag” law is unconstitutional, U.S. District Court Judge B. Lynn Winmill ruled on Monday. A spokesman for Idaho’s attorney general said the state has not decided if it will appeal the decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco. Idaho’s is the first “ag-gag” statute to be… Continue Reading

The North Carolina bill giving animal agriculture a civil cause of action against activists who enter closed areas of private property without permission was vetoed Friday by Republican Gov. Pat McCrory. In his veto message, McCrory said this about House Bill 405: “This bill is intended to address a valid concern of our state’s businesses… Continue Reading

It was U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis who said that “a state may, if its citizens choose, serve as a laboratory; and try novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country.” He meant that various state legislatures, especially over a period of years, may try different solutions to the… Continue Reading

There’s no crime, no unconstitutional prior restraint on taking pictures or making videos, and no deadlines for turning over evidence of animal cruelty. Indeed, the elements that raise constitutional questions about some state “ag-gag” laws are not even found in the North Carolina bill now on Gov. Pat McCrory’s desk Animal activists are still vigorously… Continue Reading

According to the sponsor, Washington state agricultural representatives feared testifying Tuesday at a public hearing for a proposed bill to outlaw espionage by animal-welfare activists against farms and ranches. State Rep. Joe Schmick (R-Colfax) says farmers and the organizations that represent them remained silent because “they’re scared of repercussions of just expressing an opinion.” Schmick’s… Continue Reading

Simple trespass charge remains

For the second time, Utah prosecutors have dropped charges of “agricultural operation interference” that police had filed under the state’s new law for cloaking agricultural facilities with special legal protection. Prosecutors backed away from pursuing the so-called “ag-gag” part of their criminal case against four vegan activists from the Bethesda, MD-based Farm Animal Rights Movement. While… Continue Reading